Stiff Gins celebrate 15 years with free performance and live recording

Saturday, March 15th, 2014

Stiff Gins (Nardi Simpson and Kaleena Briggs), one of
Australia’s best known and most loved musical duos, will
celebrate their 15th ‘birthday’ with a special free
performance – including the live recording of a wax cylinder
– at the NFSA Theatrette on 21 March.

“This milestone allows us to quantify the hard work and
achievements we take from our music. It is also pretty rare these
days for female bands to last this long too, so that makes us proud
too,” said Nardi Simpson.

Nardi and Kaleena will look back at the band’s history,
their own personal career highlights and what lies ahead. They will
also perform favourites from their discography, and record a brand
new song using 19th century wax cylinder technology. This will be
the second
wax cylinder the duo records with the support and technical
expertise of the NFSA, but the first to be recorded live on stage
rather than in a studio.

Nardi added: “We are really looking forward to the
experience. All our songs are time capsules of certain points in
our lives and careers, but I prefer to think the one that best
represents us is our next unwritten song – the one that is
bubbling and boiling in our hearts and minds at the moment.
It’s a possibility of the future sound, of exploring
opportunities that lie ahead and going with the flow.”

Their music has taken the Stiff Gins all around Australia, and
as far as North America, the UK, Egypt, Lebanon, Cyprus, Abu Dhabi,
Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania.

“Those tours were all amazing experiences, but the most
important journey has been the one we have taken personally, in
exploring and understanding where we fit into the world,
translating our culture and outlook to others, practising and
refining the craft of our own creativity, and learning about
ourselves. That has been the most rewarding place music has taken
us,” explained Nardi.

Senior Indigenous Curator Peter White will host the event on 21
March. The session is part of the NFSA’s new Indigenous
Voices program.